I posted a blog recently about the value of saying “No” to kids. The gist was:

1) Your kids will be fine if they don’t get what they want all the time.
2) If you’re going to say “No” then be sure to follow through – unless you like to lead the double life of parent and white noise machine.

I just discovered another good time to say “No”– when it comes to buying them nice things. Ya know why? Because they don’t care.

Months ago, in spite of my no pet policy, my cheeky friend promised the kids a fish. She arrived at the house with a tank and all the fishy trimings. We negotiated that a fish could join us only after we moved into the new house in March.

March arrived and we moved into the new house. It is just lovely – big enough to suit our family, sitting on a quiet court and backing onto fields and ravines. The kids’ days are full of road hockey, catching tadpoles, chasing deer and trampolining. Soon summer will be here and they’ll be passing their days basking in the pool, enjoying all the water fun summer has to offer.

On moving day, the kiddos had all been shipped off to various locations. When they arrived home to their beautiful new house that evening, they screamed in unison:
“Did we get the fish??”

Daddy-o and I looked at each other, rolled our eyes and thought: we just bought a new house, and all they care about is that stupid fish!

And that is not the end of it. I had decided (OK, my bank account decided) that we would not be buying new furniture for the house. I made one little exception. With the three girls sharing a room, I thought it would be nice to ditch the garage sale beds they had been using, and replace them with three new little beds with fresh and fun bedding. They excitedly picked out the beds that were being used by the athletes in Olympic village.

So you can imagine my frustration when I go into their room at night and this is what I find:

So if you are the kind of mama who worries about your kids doing without stuff, I think you can stop. Just go buy them a fish and let them to sleep on the floor. Clearly, that is all they need.

I was online the other night participating in a Twitter party. The topic of discussion was food – kiddo food, healthy snacks, on-the-go foods, etc.

Since I’m not a big foodie type, I didn’t think I’d have much to contribute to the conversation. My kids eat well, but I’m not a health nut and don’t spend hours in the kitchen creating beautiful meals for my family. In short, my kids have not had a Twinkie-free existence and occasionally they have had frozen meatballs for dinner – still frozen. Two nights in a row.

But as the chit-chat went on and people were exchanging stories about weird food their kids love and delicious food their kids hate, I discovered I did have some interesting things to say. I made some valuable contributions including:

- One kid of mine has a favourite snack that is horribly embarrassing to admit. In fact, when I tell people what it is, they throw up a little in their mouths. My kid loves hot dogs but in the form of a cold wiener straight from the fridge. Just gagged while writing that.

- Another kid loves avocado with a squeeze of lemon. I don’t think I had avocado until I was about 30-years-old. In my humble upbringing, we would have called avacados “fancy food”!

- My kids and all of their cousins have the same favourite fruit called “sour apple”. It is sliced apple in a bowl, drenched in lemon juice.

- The one food I can serve up that each kid will eat without complaint is pesto on pasta. Now, it’s interesting to note that they actually make the pesto. They plant the basil in the backyard and when pesto making day is upon us, they pick the basil and go shopping for the other ingredients. This begs the question – is there a connection between kids being involved in their food and liking their food?

A strange food fact about me also made its way into the conversation, leaving people shocked and horrified. What is this shocking food news? I’ve never had a milkshake. Ever. Not once in my 39 years of life.

So go on – what creepy, weird food does your kid like? Or, have you reached the age of 40 and never tried sushi or tasted kiwi fruit? The best thing that came out of this whole Twitter party food chat is all the milkshakes I’ve had promised to me in the last few days!

There is a lot of fun stuff going on here at The Mabelhood in 2010! To start things off, friend and amazing fella, Chris McGrath, will be joining us with a guest post next week. He will post about a tremendous accomplishment – he just reached his goal of losing 200 lbs. No gimmicks, but a lot of sweat and hard work. With all those New Year’s resolutions buzzing around, we’re hoping his motivation is contagious!

The following week, you will be introduced to Nanny Carrie (who happened to have a baby a couple of days ago). As an experienced nanny who is oozing with kiddo love, common sense and practical solutions, Nanny Carrie is the mama with the answers! She will be providing regular posts helping us deal with all that kid stuff that drives us crazy.

Of course you’ll still be hearing from me about life in the mama trenches while also juggling Mabel’s Labels madness. Caitlin will be keeping you posted on all the Mabel news and Tanna is here to keep you organized.

All the best for 2010! It’s been a pleasure sharing 2009 with you! And a warm Mabelhood welcome to Chris and Nanny Carrie!

To say we are THRILLED to be the recipients of the RBC Momentum award would be an understatement.

Seven years ago we were working through the night in a dingy basement. In those early days, we paid our first web designer not in cash, but in exchange for a foosball table.

Now we are here and our thank yous are many:

First and foremost to Carolyn Lawrence and our friends at Women of Influence, to our esteemed panel of judges, and of course to RBC, the kind sponsors of the Momentum Award. We truly appreciate your support and hard work.

On a personal note, we also want to recognize some people who have been on this journey with us.

1) It seems appropriate to acknowledge our women folk – including a handful of mothers, grandmothers, mothers-in-law and a step-mother. And since the four Mabel partners are related, some of these women have overlapping roles! They have provided wisdom and support to us. Their lives have been remarkable and their love for us unwavering. Let this be the legacy we leave our daughters.

2) Our spouses – known affectionately as ‘the Mabel widowers’. Creating and growing this business would not have been possible without their encouragement and their willingness to watch every family function transform into a strategic planning meeting.

3) Our collective 12 children – who sometimes have to suffer through having mothers who, while having one eye firmly on the soccer field or ice rink, have another eye occasionally straying to her BlackBerry. Our children were our inspiration to start a business, and continue to inspire us in so many ways.

4) The Mabel team – our staff has worked in unconventional spaces with unconventional supervisors. They have suffered through tremendous and challenging growth and change, always remaining positive and keeping the company’s needs their top priority.

5) Our customers – clearly, we love them for buying labels and we quite literally would not be here without them! But in addition to that, our customers are loyal and many have been with us through the years, providing us with feedback, ideas and spreading the Mabel word among their contacts. They have become a part of the Mabelhood community and shaped that community through engaging with us on many different levels.

We four partners have had quite a ride, and throughout it all we have remained a strong sisterhood – four different women who have laughed together, struggled together, raised families together and worked, worked, worked.

We started a business because we chose to live as dynamic business owners, enthusiastic mothers and inspired women. Thank you to the esteemed panel of judges who, by selecting us, showed that you value that choice.

We’re honoured to announce that the four co-founders of Mabel’s Labels – Julie Cole, Cynthia Esp, Julie Ellis and Tricia Mumby – are finalists in the 2009 RBC Women Entrepreneur Awards, in the RBC Momentum Award category. This annual award recognizes women entrepreneurs from across Canada who make exceptional contributions to the local, Canadian and global economy.

It is truly an accomplishment for the co-founders to be recognized, as a record 1500+ nominees applied for these prestigious awards, in five categories.

You can read more about the awards in this RBC/Women of Influence press release. Please note, while the release states Julie Cole as the finalist, all co-founders are officially equal contenders.

Winners will be announced at an Awards Gala in Toronto on December 8, 2009. Wish us luck!